Meet Andrew

I believe a meaningful and gratifying life is within the realm of possibilities for all of us. I’m also aware that potentiality may feel very distant and possibly even unknown. Your current experience may be very far removed from a life you would describe as rewarding or consequential. Feeling like this has motivated people, many likely very similar to you, to look into therapy or counseling.

The approach to therapy or counseling I practice is known as Narrative Therapy. One of the primary assertions of this theory is that you are not the problem; the problem is the problem. If I believed that you are the problem then we would have to fix something with you. However, if the problem is the problem then we can look at how we are relating with the problem and look for different ways to interact with it. This also means diagnosing is not where I spend a lot of my time. I am fascinated by your lived experience not by some label that has been or could be attached to you. I believe you are so much more than a diagnosis. However, I am aware of the role diagnosis can play. In some cases it offers comfort by identifying and giving a name to your experience.

I offer a safe, open and judgement free space for you to explore what you have been telling yourself. I offer an opportunity to question and explore events in your life and the meaning they hold for you. I am not someone who has the answers for you. However, I do believe that together we can explore what it is that you know. Sometimes remembering or witnessing your experience from a different view point can make all the difference. Together we can see what it is you know, take a look at what you have been telling yourself and maybe something new emerges that before was unseen. That can make all the difference.

You may know the famous poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken (you can click on the title if you would like a refresher.) Occasionally I find myself thinking about the poem and the famous lines “two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” We often find ourselves treading the same road, telling the same story, looking at the same facts, viewing situations the way we and our well meaning family and friends do. Doing so may have us feeling like nothing has changed in our life and we are not finding the inspiration we are looking for. But the path less traveled, “grassy and want[ing] wear,” the path that we find when we take our time brushing aside leaves, peeking through over growth, looking under logs, that path we discover is the one that makes all the difference. It is that path that I think about when I have the honor or working with people. Often that path doesn’t just present itself, it may take some time to uncover, but once you uncover it and start to go down that path, you’ll find that it feels familiar, and it feels peaceful. This is how I view the work we would do together. Slowing down and discovering (or in some cases rediscovering) that less traveled path, that path you know exists but which has alluded you until now.

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Specialized Training

• The Gottman Institute, Inc.
  Completed Level 1 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, 2017
  Completed Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, 2018
• Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
  Externship, 2022
  Core Skills, 2022-2023
• Evanston Family Therapy Center
  Year Long Narrative Therapy Training with Jill Freeman and Gene Combs, 2018
  Advanced Narrative Therapy Training in San Gimignano, Italy, 2019
• The Encouragement Zone
  Applications of Sand Tray Play Therapy with Terry Kottman, 2018
• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
• Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM)
• Psychological First Aid Online (PFA)
• Youth Mental Health First Aid
• Counseling Clients Through Narcissistic Abuse